File photo of Sarzora villagers opposing railway station in the village.
MARGAO
Since the time the first train was flagged off on the Konkan Railway between Margao and Mangaluru in the late 90’s, the Gudi-Chinchinim Major District Road (MDR) is being shut when the manned railway crossing at Sarzora is closed for vehicular traffic.
Frequency of trains running on the Konkan railway route, including the long distance trains have increased by leaps and bounds over the last two decades and half. Sadly, neither the Konkan Railway nor the Goa government stepped in to build a Road over Bridge (RoB) at the Sarzora railway crossing to mitigate the hardships faced by the local villagers and the motorists using the vital Gudi-Chinchinim link road.
When Goa governor P S Sreedharan Pillai visited Sarzora village as part of the village tours, the Panchayat made a fervent plea to build a RoB at the railway crossing and help tide over the issues plaguing the villagers and motorists, but in vain.
Hence, when the government unveiled plans to build a railway station at Sarzora along with three other stations, villagers led by Sarpanch Leona Fernandes, besides villagers posed a simple question to Goa government “ for whom is the proposed railway station at Sarzora when neither the Konkan Railway nor the government has initiated steps to build a Road over Bridge at the railway crossing for the last 25 years?
Given that the closure of the railway crossing at Sarzora several times a day has hit the movement of school children, church goers and motorists alike, the moot question raised by the villagers is what made the government and KR think of a railway station when they had never bothered to address the issues thrown up by the frequent closure of the railway crossing.
This has only fuelled fears over the objective behind the railway station, with villagers openly accusing the government of a hidden agenda. “Why another station at Sarzora when we have a major railway station at Margao and another station close by at Balli. There is some hidden agenda behind the proposal. We are opposed to the railway station and will do what we can to oppose the same tooth and nail”, warned activist and Panch member Sabita Mascarenhas.
